


Sacrifice

by jkateel



Series: DOMA 'Verse [2]
Category: Yu-Gi-Oh!
Genre: Angst, DOMA, M/M, Orichalcos
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-07
Updated: 2013-09-07
Packaged: 2017-12-25 20:44:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,164
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/957416
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jkateel/pseuds/jkateel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The other Yuugi was a good man and Yuugi won't let the seal of Orichalcos take that from him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sacrifice

Yuugi had put his trust in his other self when he decided to play that cursed card. He hadn't liked the idea, but he had let him do it, and the effects were instantaneous. The seal invaded his mental defenses, using ones Yuugi had built himself (built to keep his other self contained if he flew into a rage) to physically separate them. He was thrown into the green light and sealed off before he could move, his scream of "other me!" lost in deafening silence.

He panted wildly as his eyes darted around his prison. When he touched the walls, the seal pushed back with a pulse of energy, and Yuugi felt a trickle of fear. He knew this light. He had seen it before.

The Millennium tauk had given him a vision where he had been surrounded by green light and what had followed was the worst pain he had ever been in. This wasn't good, he thought, hands shaking at his side.

His heart leaped when he realized he could faintly see his other self in the distance, still dueling, still standing tall and proud. Yuugi grinned hopefully and pressed against the wall, straining to see. His other self had to know they were separated by now, so Yuugi quickly grabbed the puzzle with one hand to send him reassurance, an "I'm right here, other me. Right here!"

But the puzzle was cold in his hand and Yuugi dropped it like he was burned. It had always been warm and solid; now it was lifeless and hollow, nothing more than a dead weight around his neck. Yuugi couldn't sense its power, and he couldn't sense his other self. Outside the light, his other self didn't even turn to look at him and Yuugi's trickle of fear grew.

He was alone.

You hate being alone, a little voice whispered, and Yuugi flinched. No, he wasn't going to think about those things right now. Even if his other self couldn't hear him — even if he didn't realize his partner was missing — Yuugi trusted him. His other self was the King of Games; he had defeated great evils before: Pegasus and Malik and anyone else who had dared tried to hurt them. He would win! He always did!

It was only a few plays later when Yuugi wondered what the cost of the win would be.

His other self was brutal, sending monster after monster to its death. Yuugi winced at every explosion, tears building in his eyes as he watched his other self repeat the same move over and over again. Those monsters were their friends — they were alive — but his other self wielded them like pawns in battle. Yuugi sobbed in horror when he sent the Black Magician and Black Magician Girl to their end, emotions overwhelming him as he began to pound on the wall.

"Other me!" he yelled, pounding again and again. What was he doing? He knew better! It wasn't just the fact that he was relying on one strategy to win — how many opponents had they defeated whom had done the same? — but this cruelty, this destruction—

Yuugi had seen it before.

He gasped, and his tears fell free. This was his other self during penalty games, the duel with Kaiba, every time Yuugi was hurt. This was his other self when he had lived off Yuugi's anger and pain, punishing all those who hurt him. But his other self wasn't like that anymore. His other self was a hero, a Pharaoh; he was good and kind and sweet and loving and clever and a good man. He wasn't like this. He wasn't!

It was the seal, Yuugi realized. It was what the seal did to people, to Mai and his other self. It let their darkness take over and stripped their humanity away. Yuugi began pounding on the wall again, until it hurt, until he was sure his hands would bleed if they could. He couldn't let his other self become that person again — he couldn't let his victory be at the cost of reducing his other self to dark creature he had once been.

"Other me!" he screamed, slamming his fists into the wall. His voice echoed in the tiny prison, but he continued to call for him, hoping beyond hope that it would get through. Their bond would save them as it always did, Yuugi thought desperately. It would find a way through the darkness to unite them again. It had never failed them before, not when they needed each other the most!

But it wasn't meant to be. In the haze of the green light, he could see an angel's wings unfurl and the souls of his other self's fallen monsters rise to assist it. Yuugi felt his heart stop as the monster struck, ending the duel with one fell swoop. His other self slumped forward and Yuugi pushed against the wall with all of his might, frantic to get to him. "Other me!" he yelled, but his other self didn't hear him and Yuugi sobbed again.

Around him, the green light began to fade and Yuugi panicked. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, he thought as the seal shifted toward its new target. It circled around the Pharaoh, and Yuugi knew exactly what would happen. The Pharaoh's soul would be taken, like all the others had been, and the beast would be born. The world would end and everything they had fought for — their friends, their memories, their world — would be gone.

Yuugi felt tears slide down his cheeks. Would his other self's final act in this world be losing his soul to give birth to the monster that would destroy it?

The seal around him continued to fade as it grew stronger around the Pharaoh, and the puzzle stirred, its magic slowly returning. Yuugi felt its warmth come back and, as he grasped it in both hands, he suddenly knew what he had to do.

The Pharaoh's soul couldn't be lost, not only for the world's sake, but for his own. Yuugi wouldn't let this be his other self's fall; his loss wouldn't be because the Orichalcos had brought out the terrible darkness in him. He was a good man and the seal of Orichalcos would not take that from him.

Yuugi wouldn't let it.

The second the seal's hold on him had loosened and the puzzle was strong enough, Yuugi took off. He called on the puzzle to give him whatever power it could, and it responded, Yuugi feeling the magic swell around him. It was weak, but Yuugi knew it would be enough — it was always at his weakest when he was his strongest, thanks to his friends and his other self. Yuugi put all his hopes and beliefs into that as he ran forward, pushing the magic forward to break the Orichalcos seal.

His other self would be saved, if it was the last thing he ever did.


End file.
